Algernon Cadwallader - Parrot Flies

 

I'm going to say that the first time (and many other listens after) I did not get the big deal. The 90's emo revival is in heavy swing these days and what better band to ape than the many incarnations of the kinsella boy's projects especially Cap'n Jazz.  Just recently I've made my peace and found that i really do enjoy Algernon Cadwallader. The main difference's are the vocals and instrumentation which happen to have a better handle on being melodic when they need to be. Parrot Flies marks their newest release. Its emo indie rock with touches of angular guitars and scream sung vocals. There lo-fi approach is charming but honestly I feel like cleaning up things could really bump these kinds of bands in a more positive direction. 

Parrot Flies

The Foreign Exchange- Authenticity 2010

I have mentioned Little Brother in previous posts, as well as featuring some Strong Arm Steady in a madlib mix post, and both showcase the excellent harmonies that singer Phonte would kick out on all kinds of jams; dude is a melodic, harmonic vocal master, and at some point in the early 2000s, Phonte connected with a dutch producer named Nicolay through the Okayplayer message boards, and soon the two pulled a Postal Service style exchange of instrumentals/ vocal takes (the name The Foreign Exchange stemming from this strange musical connection), and put together their first album Connected in 2004.

Alright the Captain - Snib

An English rock band with one foot in that classy ass 90's math sound and the other firmly planted in their own bass monster death march. Very well thought out structure and in your face production make this a real treat to sit through thats for sure. You can almost sense the amount of fun these guys are having playing these songs.  I will say though that this wont change your summer vacation plans.  It just doesn't push in any one direction too much not enough to break out of the mold. Still its worth a glance, isn't everything?

Snib

The Grand Rapid City Lipdub 2011

it is blowing up real fast since memorial day weekend, but im not sure how many of you swords dudes had seen the craziness that is the grand rapids lip dub. I know I hadnt until earlier today when i heard about it on NPR. The story went that recently, a list came out of the Top Cities in Fast Decline, and Rapid City was near the top of the list. The citizens of Rapid City said fuck that, and a local filmmaker gathered $40,000 and the support of the city to put together the most intense, single shot lipdub video of all time. And this didnt just reach to the citizens of the city; the government was involved, as well as local police and firefighters, business owners, artists, nerf gun enthusiasts, etc. Everyone represented themselves to unite and give a big FUCK YOU to the world that saw them in decline.

And i mentioned, it is a single shot; 10 minutes long, and one continuous shot of so many crazily arranged things. The undertaking of this project was a daunting idea, but holy shit did they pull it off. Not to mention the nurf gun fight on the bridge all Braveheart style.

"We need a slogan. You need some stuff" contest

WINNER! WINNER!

Thanks Clay for your slogan of "Cutting edge music"

We love you for it.... I mean that in a completely not scary way.

Clay will receive an amazing prize package that will not include a trip or a car!

WOW! WE ARE AWESOME!



UPDATE 6/1:
We will be running this through Sunday 6/5/2011. Looking good so far guys cant wait to shower the winner with pointless treasures.
_______________________________________________________________________________


Having almost hit our 10,000 view mark I would like to extend a contest to our readership. If you haven't noticed we have a very lame slogan quickly made by me when I started the blog.

"it's about awesome music....and swords"

Doesn't really scream awesome slogan, I know this. That is the reason why we need help here at the swords for someone to come up with something better (admittedly anything would be better)

As a way of saying thank you to the person who gets picked by us for best slogan, they will receive a handsome package of music and non music related goodies!!!!#$^#$&*#$

So lets get this going, please leave in the comments your proposed slogan and we will do the rest.

Edan- Primitive Plus 2002

Instead of posting something old but new to me that a friend had recommended, this is some hip hop from my own library that i have loved for some time now. I believe it was Metaghost (or possibly my pal kurt from school) who introduced Edan to me; i remember distinctly listening to Primitive Plus with friends of kurt at his apartment, but i think i was familiar with it beforehand. Either way, Edan was a berklee cat who specialized in producing and staring in his hiphop jams, and soon after leaving the school released Primitive Plus, his second album. It is straight oldschool style with classic ingredients; great drums, excellent production, nice use of samples, and a smooth MC full of hilarious lines.

The track i have to share with you is Run That Shit, near the 2/3rd of the album; a nice relaxed tune about how the best way to get things you want is to steal it from people, "whether stranger, relative, a friend or foe/ i like jackin' mothafuckas when i need some dough". The lyrics first explain themselves, and then go into 3 verses detailing different situations you might be in where you just might jack a motherfucker. Shit is just straight hilarious:



"your pet dog? run that shit. your earrings? run that shit. your little brother? run that shit." Great outro.
primitive plus

Borderline Syndrome - Promo

It appears we have something exciting and a bit left of the center here today and that leads us to Borderline Syndrome. A female fronted, Athens Greece 5 piece that clearly has no idea what they want musically and I for one couldn't be happier. Kinda pop rockish with some clear math rock (of the jazz variety) lovin but also not afraid to stomp the distortion pedal. If I am not mistaken there is some internalizing of greek folk music crammed in there as well which certainly gives it a flavor all its own. My one and only gripe is that its three songs....I could go for at least four times as many its really that worth it. So if your ready for a change of pace I would stop reading and go for it..

..no seriously stop reading.


PROMO
 

10,000

We got to 10,000 views! Ridiculous! Makes a man want to do a dance!


Thanks guys, from the music ninja team here at Swords. As it stands, the slogan contest is still going, news to come.

Upsilon Acrux - Radian Futura

Heres a group we could talk about for a long time, between line up changes and shifts in amount of members really though their core sound has remained surprisingly consistent.  This west coast math prog powerhouse is something of a household name for the genre.  Extremely restless in structure and highly complex, they owe just as much to old school prog as the new school tappers. I trust many are familiar already which is great but if you aren't Radian Futura is a great place to start.

Radian Futura (2009)